Clinical, electrocardiographic criteria, and conventional laboratory testing have been used to evaluate patients who experience chest pain. However, these procedures do not adequately predict risk of experiencing an adverse cardiac event for patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes. The use of C-reactive protein and other biomarkers have been advocated to more accurately gauge risk, but additional prognostic tools predicting coronary artery vulnerability for near-term subsequent major events in patients who present with suspected acute coronary syndromes are needed.
Creatinine kinase isoenzymes and/or cardiac troponins, are used as diagnostic biomarkers of myocardial necrosis in patients who present with chest pain.4, 5 However, many patients who present with chest pain have normal levels of creatinine kinase isoenzymes or troponins, but subsequently experience a myocardial infarction, require revascularization, or die in the ensuing 6 months. Accordingly, additional biochemical markers for determining whether a patient who presents with chest pain is at risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiac event are required. Biochemical markers that can be used to determine whether a patient who presents with chest pain is at risk of requiring medical intervention near term, e.g. within the next one to six months are especially desirable.